20 Of The World’s Wildest Real Estate Facts That Wouldn’t Even Cross Most People’s Minds

When it comes to real estate, most people feel like there’s a lot they don’t know. Sure, watching shows on HGTV and elsewhere can help to familiarize us with the bare minimum, but when it comes down to it, most of us aren’t exactly well-informed on the subject. But that’s okay, because you’re definitely not alone.

With that in mind, we’ve gathered 20 eye-opening real estate facts that most people had no idea about that will get you up to speed. The next time you hear someone talking shop, you won’t only have some of the lingo down, you can add your own interesting tidbit to the conversation!

1. Longtime fans of the ’90s sitcom Friends have pined over Monica’s incredible apartment for years. They’ve even debated how she could afford it. Considering size, location, and amenities—had it really existed—it would be worth roughly $3.5 million in today’s market.

2. Did you know treehouses are considered real estate? Well, at least the big ones, like the world’s biggest that has tons of rooms, is several floors high, and took the people building it a whopping 14 years to complete. Now that’s every child’s dream come true!

3. A trip to visit the ancient Egyptian pyramids is a surefire way to please any history buff. Though a retreat to such a location might feel like being centuries away from modern society, take a look at how close they actually are to the city of Cairo.

4. Completed in 1792, and having housed every American President since, it’s hard to fathom all the history in the beautiful building that is the White House. But did you have any idea of its worth? Try a walloping $110 million. Wow!

5. In 1997, Pepsi held a contest where participants could win a life-sized replica of the Simpson’s home or $75,000 cash. The winner took the cash—she didn’t want to move to Henderson, Nevada, where the fully furnished replica had been built.

6. There’s currently a serious homelessness epidemic in the United States. Ironically, there are five times as many vacant houses currently in the country than there are homeless people who live on the streets.

7. The purpose of the long needle atop the Empire State Building in New York City has long been debated. Yet, it was eventually revealed that its initial purpose was to be an anchor for blimps! There’s another odd fact you probably haven’t heard about that world-famous building.

8. The Empire State building was completed during the Great Depression, causing much of the office space to go unrented. For that reason, many New Yorkers began referring to it as the Empty State Building.

9. Even though American business magnate Warren Buffet is one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth of roughly $81.3 billion, he still lives in the same home he purchased in 1953! At the time, he paid just $31,500 for it.

10. In downtown Dubai stands the Burj Khalifa, a hotel so tall—163 floors and 2,722 feet high—that spectators can watch the sunset from the base of the building, hop on the elevator to the top floor and watch the sunset all over again.

11. Horyuji temple in Japan is, by and large, the oldest standing wooden building there is on the planet. The incredible structure was built around 600 AD from locally harvested timber trees. Talk about a solid foundation.

12. In Bavaria, there is a town called Nördlingen that was actually built on top of an old meteor impact site. Just how long ago did the meteor strike? Try an incredible 14 million years ago. A view from above and you’d never guess anything catastrophic had ever happened there.

13. Though millions of people flock to Las Vegas each year to try their hand at gambling, they don’t realize the strip is not actually in Las Vegas proper. To avoid taxes, the strip was constructed in a town called Paradise, which is completely surrounded by Las Vegas.

14. The largest privately owned residential yacht in the world is called The World. It’s so expansive that it has 165 private residences onboard, and it is constantly traveling to different locations around the world. Now that sounds like a fun cruise!

15. In the United States, when you pay off your home, you’re just lucky. But when people in Scotland pay off their homes, they have a tradition—painting their front door a bright red. That way, you can do all the gloating you want without going overboard.

16. In an effort to preserve the natural beauty of their respective states, Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, and Vermont have all banned outdoor billboards from being posted on their highways. That’s certainly a plus for people looking to enjoy the scenery near their homes.

GoPro / YouTube

17. Residents of an Orlando, Florida, neighborhood were shocked to discover old bombs on their property beginning in 1998. But they soon learned their homes were actually built on a former World War II bombing range.

18. The Seattle Kingdome, formerly home to the Seattle Supersonics, Mariners, and Seahawks was one of the most expensive stadiums in history. In fact, it cost so much money that even though it was demolished in 2000, it wasn’t fully paid off until 2015.

19. In 2009, in the wake of the United States economic recession, there were astonishingly more foreclosures on homes than there were marriages in the entire country. You’d have to imagine those numbers were absolutely staggering.

20. Alaska is somewhat of a geographic anomaly, but why exactly? Well, it is concurrently the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state in all of the United States. As if Alaska couldn’t get any cooler than it already is, right?

MarculescuEugenIancuD5200Alaska / Flickr

You’re going to have so much fun telling your friends these random real estate facts. There’s no way anyone will know any of these.